“For there are some people who can live without wild things about them and the earth beneath their feet, and some who cannot. To those of us who, in a city, are always aware of the abused and abased earth below the pavement, walking on the grass, watching the flight of birds, or finding the first spring dandelion are the rights as old and unalienable as the rights of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. We belong to no cult. We are not Nature Lovers. We don't love nature any more than we love breathing. Nature is simply something indispensable, like air and light and water, that we accept as necessary to living, and the nearer we can get to it the happier we are.”

-- Louise Dickinson Rich (1903-1991)

* * * * *

The idea of staying in touch with the earth in winter may sound like a stretch – since after all, we can’t exactly lounge around a lot outdoors on cold days.

Yet some people do manage to find ways to connect regularly with nature during this season, in spite of the challenges. It’s easiest if you enjoy outdoor activities.

The “why” of maintaining such a connection should need no explanation. And anyone who feels stressed, or out of balance, is an especially good candidate.

Not that feeling discombobulated or “out of sorts” is a prerequisite for enjoying the rewards of nature, of course. There’s an enrichment that anyone can benefit from.

And just how can we connect with the earth on cold days? It’s obviously physically easiest in warm weather, when we can sit on the grass or ground.

Walking on the earth helps in any season – whether in our hiking boots, or (on non-rocky ground, and in summer) in soft shoes, or barefoot next to a lake.

But even hiking on frozen ground, or in snowshoes, and sitting briefly in the snow – properly bundled up, of course – can be calming, restful, and comforting.

Some releasing of stress and letting go of worries seems to happen naturally when we’re close to the earth, whether hiking or spending quiet time in a park.

And research has shown that while we’re indoors, just thinking about nature or viewing nature photos can positively affect our mood and immune system.

Most therapeutic of all is to get out often, locally or further afield… and spend time communing with Mother Earth herself (whether on hikes or close to home).

[The 3 quotes below deal with a still controversial subject, the benefits of unprotected sun exposure].

“Still, none of these factors is as important in explaining the widespread levels of vitamin D deficiency as is the fact that as a society we are increasingly choosing to deprive ourselves of our most important source of vitamin D -- sunlight.

Exaggerated warnings about the perils of sun exposure are driving Americans to hide beneath long sleeves, floppy hats, and wraparound sunglasses and to slather every square inch of skin that isn’t covered with high-SPF sunscreens… The result of all this is to block out the sun that humans need to make vitamin D. The inescapable fact is that humans have evolved in such a way as to be dependent on sunshine for life and health…

Why does this matter? The short answer is that the benefits of vitamin D on human health are many, varied, and profound… Suffice it to say that in some respected medical circles, sunlight is being described as a ‘wonder drug.’ It can provide ‘immunity’ against some of the most devastating diseases around, including heart attack, stroke, osteoporosis, and certain of the most deadly internal cancers… Sunlight has a similarly dramatic effect on high blood pressure, one of the leading causes of heart attack and stroke -- people who spend time in the sun… experience a blood pressure-lowering effect similar to that of standard medications that have unpleasant side effects. We’ve found that sunlight has a beneficial effect on heart health equal to exercise. Then there’s bone health. Sun exposure helps build and maintain bone density and reduces fractures… Humans also need sunlight to control the biological clocks that regulate mood, and appropriate sun exposure is responsible for keeping down rates of depression associated with seasonal affective disorder (SAD) and premenstrual syndrome (PMS). Let’s not forget that sunlight plain old makes you feel better -- not something to be dismissed in this high-stress world in which many of us live.

…The drawbacks of sun exposure pale in comparison with the health benefits… Precautions do need to be taken, but a regular, moderate amount of unprotected sun exposure is absolutely necessary for good health…”

-- Michael F. Holick, Ph.D, M.D., The UV Advantage (ibooks, 2003)

* * * * *

“Many scientists believe that ‘safe sun’ 15 minutes or so a few times a week without sunscreen is not only possible but helpful to health. One is Dr. Edward Giovannucci, a Harvard University professor of medicine and nutrition who laid out his case in a keynote lecture at a recent American Association for Cancer Research meeting in Anaheim, Calif. His research suggests that vitamin D might help prevent 30 deaths for each one caused by skin cancer. ‘I would challenge anyone to find an area or nutrient or any factor that has such consistent anti-cancer benefits as vitamin D,’ Giovannucci told the cancer scientists. ‘The data are really quite remarkable.’ The talk so impressed the American Cancer Society's chief epidemiologist, Dr. Michael Thun, that the society is reviewing its sun protection guidelines. ‘There is now intriguing evidence that vitamin D may have a role in the prevention as well as treatment of certain cancers,’ Thun said. Even some dermatologists may be coming around. ‘I find the evidence to be mounting and increasingly compelling,’ said Dr. Allan Halpern, dermatology chief at Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center in New York, who advises several cancer groups.”

-- Marilynn Marchione, Associated Press, May 23, 2005

* * * * *

“After all the warnings that we should avoid the outdoors because prolonged exposure to sunshine causes skin cancer, a new study now suggests that staying indoors under artificial light for long periods may be even more dangerous. The Ecologist [British magazine] cites a paper in Britain’s authoritative medical journal The Lancet showing that Australian subjects who worked long hours under fluorescent lights had higher incidences of skin cancer than those who worked outside or frequently sunbathed.”

-- Jay Walljasper, Ode magazine, March 2006

* * * * *

Winter is, of course, the season when the days are shortest and the sun’s rays are least direct. By February a growing number of us may be starting to feel sun-starved.

More abundant sunshine will be available by the time spring arrives. But on winter hikes we can greatly benefit from imbibing healthy doses of natural light.

The sun is a vital generator of life on earth, and the ways it affects us are becoming increasingly clear. Our bodies need full-spectrum light to function properly.

John Ott (1909-2000) was a scientist who researched the effects of natural (vs. artificial) light on living things. Among his books was Health and Light (1973).

Ott said there’s clear evidence that regular exposure to full-spectrum light is critically important for human health and well-being. It’s like an essential nutrient.

Our species evolved in natural surroundings under natural light, and indoor living in artificial light is one of many ways we’ve put ourselves seriously out of balance.

Even on cloudy days we benefit from natural light, and one of many reasons we often feel great during and after a hike is probably the extended light exposure.

Unfortunately there’s been a long-standing “campaign against the sun” among those who are concerned about skin cancer and the risk of damage to our skin.

Yes, such concerns have some merit, as we definitely do have to protect our skin from too much direct exposure, especially in summer and at higher elevations.

But inadequate exposure is problematic as well. Without sufficient natural light our immune systems may be depressed, with potentially serious health consequences.

As I’ve mentioned in the past, a growing number of cancer experts now acknowledge the importance of regular “unprotected” exposure to the sun (although Ott would say they greatly underestimate how much is needed).

Hiking is an excellent way to get sizable doses of full-spectrum light – as are other outdoor activities. Another good solution in any season is taking frequent walks.

She estimates she has now written hundreds of prescriptions for outdoor activity. “For some reason, it is much easier to keep up a movement or exercise regimen when it’s outdoors,” Miller says.

Perhaps it’s because of the varying scenery, the fact that monthly dues and expensive Spandex outfits aren’t required, or even because of what she calls “the camaraderie of the trail”.

Miller’s not alone. Faced with mounting obesity rates and a stubbornly sedentary population, physicians – especially pediatricians – are refining their exhortations that patients need to get more exercise.

Nationwide, they are dispensing thousands of prescriptions with specific instructions – not just going to a gym, but exercising in nature, at a park, along a trail. They’re literally telling their patients to take a hike.

“This is a lot more than getting people physically active. This is about getting them outdoors,” says Zarnaaz Bashir, director of health initiatives for the National Recreation and Park Association, a group that melds parks, recreation, the environment and now, health.

When terms like “park prescriptions” began popping up in 2008 or so, many experts viewed it as a niche idea.

“It was a quirky, fun play on words. I don’t think a lot of people thought there was going to be much substance,” says Kristin Wheeler, program director at the nonprofit parks advocacy group, Institute at the Golden Gate, in San Francisco. “Now, it’s been validated.”

The number of programs has risen steadily. Officials have identified at least 50 specific programs in the US, Wheeler says, but smaller ones may be under their radar, and new programs are popping up all the time…

An early proponent was Robert Zarr, a physician with Unity Health Care in Washington DC who quizzes patients about their interests, checks a searchable database for information on parks in or near their zip code, and then writes a script for specific activities. He told one obese teen to skip one of the two buses she takes to school and walk through a park instead. She ended up losing weight and feeling happier.

“We’ve really got this down,” he told attendees at a conference last year in Philadelphia. “I see this as no different from prescribing medicine for asthma or an ear infection.”

Across the continent in San Francisco, Miller says she has learned that formalizing her recommendation to get out in nature by writing it as a prescription is highly effective. “Well over 80% of patients try it, and many stick to it,” she says.

Mounting evidence shows benefits of being out and active in green spaces: less tension and stress, lower blood pressure, improved immune system responses, and milder ADHD symptoms in children. Japanese researchers have found that adherents to Shinrin-yoku – “forest bathing” – have lower levels of the stress hormone cortisol than study subjects who walk the same distance in a lab…

Proponents say the nature prescriptions shift the focus of medicine from illness to wellness, leading to the potential for widespread changes in medical care.

Diana Allen, chief of the US National Park Service’s “Healthy Parks, Healthy People” initiative, is seeing mergers of medical schools and parks programs. “That’s wild,” she said. “I think there are going to be some new fields of practice.”

She acknowledges possible opposition from traditional practitioners and drug companies – “this goes against the money machine.” And patients who simply want to pop pills for whatever ails them also may balk…“

-- Sandy Bauers, “Doctors' new prescription: 'Don't just exercise, do it outside'”, The Guardian (theguardian.com), February 10, 2015

* * * * *

Some of us are better than others in motivating ourselves to do healthy things that are likely to benefit us – like, for instance, setting aside enough time for hikes.

Most of us certainly won’t need a doctor’s prescription (see above), but in our indoor-oriented culture, we don’t receive a lot of reminders to get outside.

Also, people are sometimes warned that visiting the natural world entails a variety of risks, especially the wilder places, given all the supposed (exaggerated) dangers.

Having doctors and other healthcare providers encourage patients to partake of the health benefits of outdoor exercise does sound like a step in the right direction.

Hiking isn’t an activity most of us can do several times a week, of course, but the benefits are such that it surely makes sense to schedule it as often as we can.

Plus it isn’t something that’s merely “good for us” -- but rather one of the most thoroughly enjoyable ways many of us know of to spend a Saturday or Sunday.

“It is the full midwinter, the season of snow, ear-tingling cold, and skies into whose blue the earth reflects back its own intensity of light. It is not heat but light which is returning to the world, and so glittering is the morning air and so cloudless the sky that the sun rolls up over the eastern woods like a sudden miracle of radiant gold, borrowing no red from the lower atmosphere.

No sound is more characteristic of this leafless time than the cries of blue jays from the nearer woods and the trees and buildings of the farm. Again and again, when I am busy out of doors, I hear that single screaming call across the wilderness of snow. I hear it just as the austere shadows of winter are coming to life with the sunrise. I hear it, and hear it answered, through the bright hollow of high noon. There is as yet no touch of spring in the note; it is the familiar harsh call and nothing more. Yet… it is music, for it means that life in the air, daring, vigorous, and even jocular, is sharing the winter with us.”

-- Henry Beston, Especially Maine (The Stephen Greene Press, 1970)

* * * * *

Can you believe it’s February already? Some years this is an ultra-wintry month, with tons of snow (like we had weekend before last) – pure heaven for the snow-lovers among us.

Those of us who are avid snowshoers are hoping for more snow so we can continue to indulge in one of our favorite winter pleasures, as we did last Saturday and Sunday.

But now all the snow from the snowstorm has melted, and until we get more, we’ll be hiking on bare ground again, which was the story in December and much of January.

Whatever your pleasure, one fact staring us in the face is that February is our shortest month, even though it includes an extra day this year. Then March arrives.

Meaning… spring will officially be here less than 7 weeks from now. I suspect those of you who aren’t crazy about winter will be able to hold out till then, right?

We often get a surge in reservations whenever a bout of spring-like weather surprises us in February. It’s not too early to reserve for March and April hikes…

In the meantime, aside from whatever else you may do on weekends, don’t forget it’s beautiful out in the woods right now (as it is in all seasons). Join us and enjoy!